THE STORM MAKERS (2014)
France-Cambodia. Direction: Guillaume Suon. Production: Julien Roumy, Rithy Panh / Tipasa Production, Bophana Production, ARTE France, La Lucarne. Screenplay: Guillaume Suon, Phally Ngoeum. Photography: Guillaume Suon. Music: Marc Marder. Edition: Barbara Bossuet. Running time: 66 min
LANGUAGE: Khmer / SUBTITLES: Basque, English
Aya is a former slave. At the age of 16, the young Cambodian peasant was sold to a Malaysian recruitment agency to work as a maid. There she was beaten, abused and deprived for two years without receiving a salary. Now back in the village, she is just as poor as when she left. Dishonoured and traumatised, what is left of her humanity?
This disturbing documentary produced by Rithy Panh looks at slavery in today’s Cambodia through Aya and two human traffickers, a local recruiter and an agency owner. In Cambodia they are known as “storm makers”: “When they arrive in a village, they bring storm and tears with them”.
